Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, kicked off a fierce battle with drug companies and pharmacies when it said earlier this year it would halve generic drug prices and eliminate “incentive fees” to generic drug manufacturers.

British Columbia is replacing block grants to hospitals with fee-for-procedure payments and Quebec has a new flat health tax and a proposal for payments on each medical visit — an idea that critics say is an illegal user fee.

And a few provinces are also experimenting with private funding for procedures such as hip, knee and cataract surgery.

So, they are looking to make it more privatized, not to mention doing away with many of the measures that make the system “free health care for all!”

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In some ways the Canadian debate is the mirror image of discussions going on in the United States.

Canada, fretting over budget strains, wants to prune its system, while the United States, worrying about an army of uninsured, aims to create a state-backed safety net.

Not, the United States doesn’t want this, the Democrats do. And poll after poll after poll show that the majority are against the Democrats plan (Rasmussen’s latest has 63% in favor of repeal).

Healthcare in Canada is delivered through a publicly funded system, which covers all “medically necessary” hospital and physician care and curbs the role of private medicine. It ate up about 40 percent of provincial budgets, or some C$183 billion ($174 billion) last year.

Wait, Canada spent $174 billion? Over 10 years that will approach $2 trillion. And the Dems want us in the USA to believe their legislation will only cost a bit less than $1 trillion over 10 years? Our population is much higher. We have quite a few baby boomers.